Belgian Navy

The Belgian Navy, officially the Marine Component, is the naval warfare service of Belgium. It was frequently dissolved throughout its history, lasting from the independence of the kingdom from the Netherlands in 1831 until being disbanded for budgetary reasons in 1862. An impromptu naval force was assembled to defend Belgian Congo's waterways against German forces in 1916. It was not revived until 1917 as the "Corps of Destroyers and Sailors" primarily consisting of artillerymen serving aboard Belgian merchant vessels during World War I. In 1927 it was once again disbanded by the Belgian government. Not until 1939 was the Belgian naval service resurrected as the "Naval Corps", only for the country to fall to the Germans in 1940. Naval personnel, merchant sailors, and fishermen who escaped from Belgium fought for the government-in-exile based in the United Kingdom as members of the Belgian Section, Royal Navy. A new Naval Force was resurrected during the Cold War and was drastically reduced in size since the collapse of the Soviet Union, being renamed the Marine Component in 2007. As of 2017, it has about 1600 personnel and a force of 2 frigates, 6 minesweepers, and 6 support vessels.